1 JESUS WAS LEAVING the temple when his disciples came and pointed to the temple buildings. 2 He answered, 'You see all these buildings? I tell you this: not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.'
3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to speak to him privately. 'Tell us,' they said, 'when will this happen? And what will be the signal for your coming and the end of the age?'
4 Jesus replied: 'Take care that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come claiming my name and saying, "I am the Messiah"; and many will be misled by them. 6 The time is coming when you will hear the noise of battle near at hand and the news of battles far away; see that you are not alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. 7 For nation will make war upon nation, kingdom upon kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. 8 With all these things the birth-pangs of the new age begin.
9 'You will then be handed over for punishment and execution; and men of all nations will hate you for your allegiance to me. 10 Many will lose their faith; they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many; 12 and as lawlessness spreads, men's love for one another will grow cold. 13 But the man who holds out to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the earth as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.
15 'So when you see "the abomination of desolation", of which the prophet Daniel spoke, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judaea must take to the hills. 17 If a man is on the roof, he must not come down to fetch his goods from the house; 18 if in the field, he must not turn back for his is coat. 19 Alas for women with child in those days, and for those who have children at the breast! 20 Pray that it may not be winter when you have to make your escape, or Sabbath. 21 It will be a time of great distress, such as has never been from the beginning of the world until now, and will never be again. 22 If that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God's chosen it will be cut short.
23 'Then, if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Messiah", or, "There he is", do not believe it. 24 Imposters will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce great signs and wonders to mislead even God's chosen, if such a thing were possible. 25 See, I have forewarned you. 26 If they tell you, "He is there in the wilderness", do not go out; or if they say, "He is there in the inner room", do not believe it. 27 Like lightning from the east, flashing as far as the west, will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29 'As soon as the distress of those days has passed, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from the sky, the celestial powers will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign that heralds the Son of Man. All the peoples of the world will make lamentation, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. 31 With a trumpet blast he will send out his angels, and they will gather his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest bounds of heaven on every side.
32 'Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots appear and are breaking into leaf, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you may know that the end is near, at the very door. 34 I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will never pass away.
36 'But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, only the Father.
37 'As things were in Noah's days, so will they be when the Son of Man comes. 38 In the days before the flood they ate and drank and married, until the day that Noah went into the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken, the other left; 41 two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 'Keep awake, then; for you do not know on what day your Lord is to come. 43 Remember, if the householder had known at what time of night the burglar was coming, he would have kept awake and not have let his house be broken into. 44 Hold yourselves ready, therefore, because the Son of Man will come at the time you least expect him.
45 'Who is the trusty servant, the sensible man charged by his master to manage his household staff and issue their rations at the proper time? 46 Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master comes! 47 I tell you this: he will be put in charge of all his master's property. 48 But if he is a bad servant and says to himself, "The master is a long time coming", 49 and begins to bully the other servants and to eat and drink with his drunken friends, 50 then the master will arrive on a day that servant does not expect, at a time he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces. Thus he will find his place among the hypocrites, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.
1 'When that day comes, the kingdom of Heaven will be like this. There were ten girls, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five prudent; 3 when the foolish ones took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the others took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was late in coming they all dozed off to sleep. 6 But at midnight a cry was heard: "Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." 7 With that the girls all got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the prudent, "Our lamps are going out; give us some of your oil." 9 "No," they said; "there will never be enough for us both. You had better go to the shop and buy some for yourselves." 10 While they were away the bridegroom arrived; those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 And then the other five came back. "Sir, sir," they cried, "open the door for us." 12 But he answered, "'I declare, I do not know you." 13 Keep awake then; for you never know the day or the hour.
14 'It is like a man going abroad, who called his servants and put his capital in their hands; 15 to one he gave five bags of gold, to another two, to another one, each according to his capacity. Then he left the country. 16 The man who had the five bags went at once and ie employed them in business, and made a profit of five bags, 17 and the man who had the two bags made two. 18 But the man who had been given one bag of gold went off and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. 19 A long time afterwards their master returned, and proceeded to settle accounts with them. 20 The man who had been given the five bags of gold came and produced the five he had made: "Master," he said, "you left five bags with me; look, I have made five more." 21 "Well done, my good and trusty servant!" said the master. "You have proved trustworthy in a small way; I will now put you in charge of something big. Come and share your master's delight." 22 The man with the two bags then came and said, "Master, you left two bags with me; look, I have made two more." 23 "Well done, my good and trusty servant!" said the master. "You have proved trustworthy in a small way; I will now put you in charge of something big. Come and share your master's delight." 24 Then the man who had been given one bag came and said, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man: you reap where you have not sown, you gather where you have not scattered; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your gold in the ground. Here it isùyou have what belongs to you." 26 "You lazy rascal!" said the master. "You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered? 27 Then you ought to have put my money on deposit, and on my return I should have got it back with interest. 28 Take the bag of gold from him, and give it to the one with the ten bags. 29 For the man who has will always be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and the man who has not will forfeit even what he has. 30 Fling the useless servant out into the dark, the place of wailing and grinding of teeth!"
31 'When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit in state on his throne, 32 with all the nations gathered before him. He will separate men into two groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right hand, "You have my Father's blessing; come, enter and possess the kingdom that has been ready for you since the world was made. 35 For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger tou took me into your home, 36 when naked you clothed me; when I was ill you came to my help, when in prison you visited me." 37 Then the righteous will reply, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you drink, 38 a stranger and took you home, or naked and clothed you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and come to visit you?" 40 And the king will answer, "I tell you this: anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me." 41 Then he will say to those on his left, hand, "The curse is upon you; go from my sight to the eternal fire that is ready for the devil and his angels. 42 For when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat, when thirsty nothing to drink; 43 when I was a stranger you gave me no home, when naked you did not clothe me; when I was ill and in prison you did not come to my help." 44 And they too will reply, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and did nothing for you?" 45 And he will answer, "I tell you this: anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not do for me." 46 And they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous will enter eternal life.'